Riding a sympathy wave ahead of Thursday’s byelection to the Baramati assembly constituency, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar has urged voters to support her as a tribute to her late husband Ajit Pawar.Voting for the byelection, necessitated by then Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar’s death in an air crash on January 28, is scheduled to take place on Thursday with 23 candidates including Sunetra Pawar in the fray.
While the election is expected to be a cakewalk for Suentra Pawar, it remains to be seen whether she would win by a record margin like her late husband.
Local NCP leaders are unsure about voter turnout as they fear that people may take Sunetra Pawar’s victory for granted and skip voting.In her concluding speech on Tuesday, Sunetra Pawar made an emotional appeal, saying that every vote for her would be a fitting tribute to Ajit ’Dada’ (elder brother).She would ensure that Ajit Pawar’s dreams and vision for the constituency are carried forward and fulfilled, said Sunetra who was sworn in as deputy CM days after her husband’s death. She had no ministerial experience prior to it.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also addressed the concluding rally on Tuesday, urged voters to come out in large numbers and vote for Sunetra ’Vahini’ (sister-in-law), saying that April 23 is the day to express love for and pay tribute to Ajit Dada.It was expected that major political parties would not field their candidates against Sunetra in keeping with convention, but Congress initially announced its candidate who later withdrew from the race following appeals from Sunetra Pawar and senior leaders of the NCP, NCP (SP), BJP and other parties.Even then, 22 independent candidates remained in the fray, making polling inevitable.NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, in a social media post, said he would not be able to cast his vote in Baramati due to health issues.According to district election officials, elaborate arrangements have been made for the bypoll.”To ensure that the scorching heat does not dampen the spirit of voters, we have installed mandaps (sheds) outside polling booths, and water coolers have been placed to ensure access to cold drinking water,” an official said.The total number of registered voters in the constituency is 3.84 lakh.Ajit Pawar had won the Baramati assembly seat, a bastion of the extended Pawar family for the last several decades, by securing 1,81,132 votes in the 2024 state elections, defeating his nephew Yugendra Pawar of the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) who polled 80,233 votes. The total turnout then was 71.57%.
